Magic Pete

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Hi Cass. Remember me? You wrote:
Thanks for the advice ! Sorry im a newbie when it comes to this ! would I use a mic for just filming voice over or can I conect it to my camera when filming sit down videos ? Cheers

I came across this posting of yours but couldn’t seem to find your original question. However, it appears you are asking for advice on getting a microphone. I seem to recall that you video yourself – or someone else – promoting beauty products??? I have a lady acquaintance here in the UK that does this sort of thing.

Several folk have named their favourite mics but, apart from that, not a lot of general practical advice. It’s natural for anyone to say that the mic they have is the best. (Same with cars I suppose).

Let’s start from the beginning. Has your camera got an input for an external mic? (I know little about all the latest cameras and don’t own a DSLR) Assuming your camera does have a mic input, I will take it that the input socket is the ‘mini-jack’ sort. Top end semi pro video cameras and pro cameras have what is known as XLR inputs. There are technical reasons but generally these XLR connections are a lot more robust. Don’t worry about it.

Again assuming your camera does have a suitable input then there must be hundreds of suitable mics from the very cheapest to the over the top expensive. Let’s ask another question. Does you camera have manual audio controls or is it fully automatic? Generally speaking, having manual control over the sound input is best although fully automatic is OK most of the time.

I do quite a lot of ‘voice-overs’ and always record direct to my camera and not into the computer. Some may well tut-tut over this, but it suits me and gives me the quality needed. I NEVER use the built-in mic on the camera but always use a separate plug in model. Lets mention a couple of points on mics. Generally they can be divided into the OMNI-DIRECTIONAL and the UNI-DIRECTIONAL. In the simplest of terms the OMNI picks up sound from all around whilst the UNI picks up sound mainly from in front of the mic. I think most would advise getting the UNI type. These mics. are frequently called ‘Shotgun’ mics for fairly obvious reasons as they are generally long & slim.

Another type of mic. is the ‘Tie-clip’ or ‘Lavalier’ mic. These are small and unobtrusive and mainly of the OMNI type. And are seen a lot on TV news presenters. Again, they can be very cheap or very expensive. At first sight you may well feel one of these could be ideal however, remember that the mic is attached to you AND the camera and sooner or later you will walk away . . . and accidents will happen. (Yes it has happened to me). We wont go into discussing radio mics here.

Now lets assume you have finally got an add-on external mic. This can be attached to the accessory shoe on the camera - if your camera has one – otherwise there are many camera brackets that can be obtained with one or more ‘shoes’ on them. Another item you might find handy is a stand with a mic holder on the top. Thus you can have the mic near to you with the camera away. It’s quite often mentioned that for the best voice quality, have the mic as near to you as practical. For instance, if the camera is (say) 10 feet away having the mic on a stand just out of shot about 3 ft away will give you a better audio result. Clearly this means the mic cable is long enough or getting a suitable one.

I must say here that the subject of audio generally is a vast complex subject and many books and articles have been published on this over the years. Just thought of something . . . Some mics need a small battery to work and this can be switched on/off. Therefore always have a set of headphones to check that the camera is actually recording the sound. There are so many advantages to using headphones to check sound but I wont go into that now.

What mic is best? Impossible to answer really but one name mentioned in postings here and that is Rode. They make a wide range of suitable mics and are generally spoken very highly of. For high quality at a ‘reasonable’ price they compare well to very highly priced professional mics. I don’t have any of this make myself but friends do say how good they are. Look them up on the web and study their range of products. Don’t rush into spend money until you are sure what you need and want.

When I’m recording a voice-over after the video has been made and edited, I put my camera in front of me and read the prepared script with as many takes as needed. Then I import these audio files to my video-editing programme and arrange them as required.

Sorry this is a bit long winded but hope this basic gen will be of help. Always be pleased to discuss further if you wish.
Pete.
 

CubuZi

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An extensive list of microphones used by YouTubers.

If you're looking a microphone to purchase for your channel you've come to the right place, this list of microphones features an image of the respective microphone, a description in my own words of the microphone and a link to its main page and Amazon page.

This list is no particular order, XLR mics require interfaces, keep that in mind.

Blue Snowball

Most used mic among small YouTuber's, it's a sphere shaped that well, looks like a snowball, at least the textured white version does, it features 3 Patterns for variety of use, has great quality, and is reasonably priced, it also comes with a nice length USB Cable and a height adjustable tripod stand, it uses a 5/8" thread, it also comes in a variety of colors.

Amazon:

Main Page:

Blue Yeti

The Blue Yet is a mic from the same manufacturers of the Blue Snowball, the mic part itself is a cylinder with it curving at the top where the mic's grill is, the mic features quality a step up from the snowball, the mic has 4 Pattern Settings which you can find on the amazon and main page, it has a volume control for the Headphone monitoring and a gain control, this have been reported to be flimsy by function fine. The mic also features as you guessed Headphone monitoring and a mute button on the mic itself. The mic comes in 3 Colors which you can see on the Amazon page.

Amazon:

Main Page:

Audio-Technica AT-2020

This mic is slowly taking over the Snowball as a popular mic for YouTubers, the mic is very sleek in design and has a blue led indicator, you'll expect to find a USB Cable and a tripod stand as illustrated in the image above (I'm not sure if this comes with a pouch, that could be the XLR version), the mic is black all over and has great quality. There is also an XLR version.

Amazon:

Main Page:

Audio-Technica AT-2500
View attachment 15475

This mic is another awesome used by users on this forums and by some of my friends. It's an awesome mic, looking similar to the AT-2020, has build in HeadPhone monitoring with a volume control for the Monitoring.
Has nice quality for a very nice and affordable price!

Shure SM7B

This mic is an absolute beast, used by people on here and popular YouTubers such as Markiplier, this mic however is quite expensive and interfaces for the XLR output will run you down some more, but the quality is amazing out this mic, this is the only Dynamic mic in this group, but it's a very decent mic. As Dynamics aren't as sensitive as Condensers, this is doesn't really pick up background noise from outside such as people around your house! :)

Rode NTG-2 Shotgun Mic
View attachment 15476
This mic sounds excellent and is perfect for use in filming and alike. It can be powered using batteries or Phantom Power from your camera. If you shop around, it can be found for a decent price. :)
Audio-Technica ATR2100
View attachment 15502
This mic is absolutely amazing for the price, it is a Dynamic mic that comes in both XLR and USB, so it can plugged into your PC or interface without any trouble. It sounds great and being a Dynamic, picks up very little, it also comes with a desk stand and respective USB and XLR Cables!

Samson C01u

View attachment 15554
This mic is a very nice mic costing around €70 new on Thomann it's quite affordable, it's a USB Condenser (most mic companies put a U after the name to define it as USB), can be set into different Patterns and has a nice stand to acompany it. It has been used by PewDiePie and is used by others such as FaZeOutcst.

Shure SM48/58

Both the SM48 and 58 are both virtually indestructible. offering amazing sound quality and build quality, these mics are also pretty much Industry Standard. They cost around €100 new but they are XLR so they will require a XLR interface. Wanna know how indestructible they are? I threw an old 48 at a wall full force and it worked fine. They've been in production since around 1960 afaik.

MXL 550/551R

This mic set is great for people doing music or vocals. one mic on instrument and other on vocals. They're a set so you do get both, they offer great quality for a good price of around $80. Both mics are XLR and iirc both require 48v Phantom Power, so make sure your interface has that (most do, you should see a switch on your mixer).

Samson Meteor Mic

View attachment 16791

This mic is surprisingly very popular, it's a great little piece of kit, it's great for people who travel allot and/or use Tablets or laptops to record and don't have allot of space, it has port for Headphone Monitoring
and mute/heaphone volume controls.

Samson Go Mic
View attachment 16792

Another awesome little portable mic from Samson, like the above it has headphone monitoring and can easily be clipped on top of the device screen you're using, it is easly folded for easy strage and has great quality. Great for people who travel and need a mic they can pull out at any time without worring about space.



This thread will be updated with more mics soon. Thanks for reading and hope this helps you decide on which mic you should choose.
See ya later. :)
I think that the blue yeti is the best for youtube amazing list nice research :)
 

joannavlogs

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We just got some cheap one from PC World for the time being as the in built mic is good enough till we can afford a better one!
 

Sin B

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Currently using just headphone mic, even with all the noise cancellation and restoration in the world still get a lot of feedback that the quality is p**s poor, so looking into a new one when I can afford it. First I thought about getting the Razer Seiren since they offer it on discount with the Sponsorship program, but after looking in the mic quality tests it seemed way overpriced for what you're getting... then I planned on getting the audiotechnica a2020, but wasn't available for shipping to my country (sigh), so went to the a2035, and got rejected again.... fml!!

Well I found out that the blue yeti supports the middle of the African desert if need be, so will get it ASAP.
 

DethArena

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I'm currently using a cheap headset mic also and the background noise kills my videos, I tried using a Shure SM57 in my latest video but its such a quiet mic i really needed to turn up the gain on it as it came out very hard to make out the vocals over the explosions in the game. I'll try it again in my next video and hopefully get better results.
 

MasterEth

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If you're low on a budget, the Blue Snowball in my opinion is your best bet. It's what I use for my videos, and I also use it for podcasting. Works GREAT! :D